Hugo Willem
Hugo Willem is Philomena Develsbourne's brother-in-law that disappeared mysteriously in 1997. Life Early life Hugo Farhan Willem was born on May 24th, 1945 in Batavia, the Dutch East Indies, to Dominic Willem and Melati Willem, and as the younger brother of Helena Sadewo. His father fled from his family, a rigidly Catholic Dutch family in Bandung, and married a neighbour girl, Melati, and settled in Batavia, where Helena and Hugo were born. They were a family of moderate wealth since Dominic had been disowned by his family, but Helena and Hugo had relatively happy childhoods. Dominic's father Gerolf Willem died in 1942, when Hugo was 2, and that was the last time they met Dominic's mother Beatrix Willem, whom died a year later. In 1944, before the independence, the family moved to Paterosari to escape the turbulence of the cities. Dominic worked as a teacher and Melati worked as a nurse. The family was not raised with a religious ideology. Dominic, who was a free-thinker that married the Muslim Melati, decided that it was best for each member of the family to decide their own courses in life. Still, Helena and Hugo were raised Catholic by Melati out of respect for Dominic's family. Though Dominic was not on good terms with his parents, his sister Dolores Willem, a nun, and Damian Willem, a priest, were close with Dominic's wife and children. Adulthood In 1958, Hugo was accepted to the University of Indonesia and majored in English Literature and graduated in 1962. He began his career in writing as soon as he graduated, mostly writing fictional works and poetry. In 1965, he married his high school sweetheart Matilda Mangkoedimedjo. He had his first daughter, Anneke Willem, a few months later, with Lusi Willem following in 1967, Jan Willem in 1976, and Dominique Willem in 1978. Being a fan of Shakespeare, all of his children had Shakespearean middle names. By the 1970s, Hugo began teaching alongside doing his work as a writer. His sister-in-law, Philomena Develsbourne, married Phillip Develsbourne in 1972 and traveled the world since Phillip was an archeologist and scholar, which caused Tilly to become very envious of her. She kept it to herself, however, knowing it would cause a rift between them. While Tilly spent her time throwing arisans and social functions with her socialite friends, and became a beacon of domesticity with her famous cooking (becoming one of the only women in the family who can cook), Hugo noticed her changing. She grew embittered and started to become cold towards him as she was unsatisfied with many things. Hugo felt their love had dimmed, and started a string of affairs after Dominique was born. Later life In 1980, Hugo and Tilda bought a new house not so far from the Van Haji House because the family was getting bigger. Anne and Lusi remained with their grandparents, however, with Jan (who was around 4 at the time), spending his weekends at his grandparents'. This separation of households resulted in a distance between the three siblings and Dominique, whom Tilly favoured over the other children. By the late 1980s, Hugo had stopped writing as he was rather stressed by his job as a teacher and the pressures he received from his wife. They separated in 1997, with Hugo disappearing and never formally divorcing Tilly (much to her chagrin). Category:Characters Category:Male Characters